Suzuki Motorcycle India to add 70 dealerships in Q4 FY2014-15

With its most important priority of expanding its pan-India footprint to boost its sales, Suzuki Motorcycle India (SMIL) is planning to add close to 70 dealerships during Q4 FY2014-15.

Talking to Autocar Professional earlier this year, Atul Gupta, executive vice-president, SMIL, had said, “Our scooters are selling because we are present in the major urban areas. However, our motorcycle segment is currently weak because we are largely absent in the rural pockets, which are big markets. Hence, our priority is to aggressively expand our dealership base this year.”

As per its plans for the ongoing fiscal, the company is aiming to add 400 new dealerships across the country to enhance its reach as against its current network of 600 dealers.

The company has produced a total of 251,196 units between April-November 2014 and has sold 233,236 units during the same period, averaging 29,155 units per month. While so far this year sales are down by 9.32 percent YoY, assuming that if this performance continues then SMIL’s FY2014-15 sales would stand close to 350,000 units, at least 50,000 units below its initial sales forecasts. This is where the addition of new dealerships and likely new product(s) are expected to make any difference.

SMIL, which is aiming to sell nearly 100,000 units of its 110cc Lets automatic scooter this fiscal, has recently taken off the listing of its 250cc Inazuma bike from its website. While there are reports that the company is planning to discontinue the model from March 15, 2015, Gupta clarified to Autocar Professional that “I will not comment about it. Taking a product listing off our website does not mean that we are going to discontinue that model.”

Suzuki has sold 141 units of Inazuma bikes between April-November 2014, of which 21 units were sold in November 2014. 

One of the popular dealers of Suzuki Motorcycle India in Pune said, “We are selling five Inazuma bikes per month on an average here, which is a good number for its on road price of Rs 2.37 lakh. We have received no such communication from the company that they are discontinuing the said model in the near future.”

SMIL has cumulatively (April-November 2014) sold 15,493 units of its 155cc Gixxer model this year (of which November 2014 sales stand at 6,443 units alone), and reports suggest that the company may soon float another variant based on the same motorcycle to boost its sales. The senior company official chose to remain tight-lipped about it.